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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Emma Watson

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and model.

Watson
rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film
series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having
previously acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2011, she starred in
all eight Harry Potter films alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert
Grint. Watson's work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several
awards and more than £10 million. She made her modelling debut for
Burberry's Autumn/Winter campaign in 2009.

In
2007, Watson announced her involvement in two productions: the
television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an animated film,
The Tale of Despereaux. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on 26 December 2007
to an audience of 5.2 million, and The Tale of Despereaux, based on the
novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed over US $86
million in worldwide sales.

Early life

Emma
Watson was born in Paris to Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both
British lawyers. Watson has one French grandmother,and lived in Paris
until the age of five. Following her parents' divorce, she moved with
her mother and younger brother to Oxford shire.

From
the age of six, Watson had wanted to become an actress,and for a number
of years she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a
part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and
acting.By the age of ten, she had performed in various Stagecoach
productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The
Happy Prince,but she had never acted professionally before the Harry
Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film series," she
stated in a 2007 interview with Parade; "If I had I would have been
completely overwhelmed."

Career

Harry Potter

In
1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
(released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United
States), the film adaptation of British author J. K. Rowling's
best-selling novel. Casting agents found Watson through her Oxford
theatre teacher, and producers were impressed by her confidence. After
eight auditions, producer David Heyman told Watson and fellow applicants
Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint that they had been cast for the roles
of the schoolfriends Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley
respectively. Rowling supported Watson from her first screen test.

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001 was
Watson's debut screen performance. The film broke records for
opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the
highest-grossing film of 2001. Critics praised the performances of the
three leads, often singling out Watson for particular acclaim; The Daily
Telegraph called her performance "admirable",and IGN said she "stole
the show".Watson was nominated for five awards for her performance in
Philosopher's Stone, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young
Actress.

Harry Potter cast

A
year later, Watson again starred as Hermione in Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers
praised the lead actors' performances. The Los Angeles Times said Watson
and her peers had matured between films,while The Times criticised
director Chris Columbus for "under-employing" Watson's hugely popular
character. Watson received an Otto Award from the German magazine Bravo
for her performance.

Emma Watson GoF Premiere 2

In
2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. Watson was
appreciative of the more assertive role Hermione played, calling her
character "charismatic" and "a fantastic role to play". Although critics
panned Radcliffe's performance, labelling him "wooden", they praised
Watson; The New York Times lauded her performance, saying "Luckily Mr.
Radcliffe's blandness is offset by Ms. Watson's spiky impatience. Harry
may show off his expanding wizardly skills ... but Hermione ... earns
the loudest applause with a decidedly unmagical punch to Draco Malfoy's
deserving nose."Although Prisoner of Azkaban remains the lowest-grossing
Harry Potter film as of April 2009, Watson's personal performance won
her two Otto Awards and the Child Performance of the Year award from
Total Film.

With
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), both Watson and the Harry
Potter film series reached new milestones. The film set records for a
Harry Potter opening weekend, a non-May opening weekend in the US, and
an opening weekend in the UK. Critics praised the increasing maturity of
Watson and her teenage co-stars; the New York Times called her
performance "touchingly earnest". For Watson, much of the humour of the
film sprang from the tension among the three lead characters as they
matured. She said, "I loved all the arguing. ... I think it's much more
realistic that they would argue and that there would be problems."
Nominated for three awards for Goblet of Fire, Watson won a bronze Otto
Award. Later that year, Watson became the youngest person to appear on
the cover of Teen Vogue, an appearance she reprised in August 2009. In
2006, Watson played Hermione in The Queen's Handbag, a special
mini-episode of Harry Potter in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th
birthday.

The
fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix, was released in 2007. A huge financial success, the film
set a record worldwide opening-weekend gross of $332.7 million. Watson
won the inaugural National Movie Award for Best Female Performance.As
the fame of the actress and the series continued, Watson and fellow
Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint left imprints of
their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in
Hollywood on 9 July 2007.

By July 2007, Watson's work in the Harry Potter series was said to have
earned her more than £10 million, and she acknowledged she would never
have to work for money again. In March 2009, she was ranked 6th on the
Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars", and in February 2010, she
was named as Hollywood's highest paid female star, having earned an
estimated £19 million in 2009.

Despite the success of Order of the Phoenix, the future of the Harry
Potter franchise became surrounded in doubt, as all three lead actors
were hesitant to sign on to continue their roles for the final two
episodes. Radcliffe eventually signed for the final films on 2 March
2007, but Watson was considerably more hesitant.She explained that the
decision was significant, as the films represented a further four-year
commitment to the role, but eventually conceded that she "could never
let [the role of] Hermione go", signing for the role on 23 March 2007.In
return for committing to the final films, Watson's pay was doubled to
£2 million per film;she concluded that "in the end, the pluses
outweighed the minuses".Principal photography for the sixth film began
in late 2007, with Watson's part being filmed from 18 December to 17 May
2008.

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson & Rupert Grint colour

Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premiered on 15 July 2009,having been
delayed from November 2008. With the lead actors now in their late
teens, critics were increasingly willing to review them on the same
level as the rest of the film's all-star cast, which the Los Angeles
Times described as "a comprehensive guide to contemporary UK acting".The
Washington Post felt Watson to have given "most charming performance to
date",while The Daily Telegraph described the lead actors as
"newly-liberated and energised, eager to give all they have to what's
left of the series".

Watson's filming for the final instalment of the Harry Potter series,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, began on 18 February 2009 and
ended on 12 June 2010. For financial and scripting reasons, the original
book has been divided into two films which were shot consecutively.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 was released in November
2010 while the second film was released in July 2011.

Other acting work

Watson's first non-Potter role was the 2007 BBC film Ballet Shoes, an
adaptation of the novel of the same title by Noel Streat flied. The
film's director Sandra Goldbacher commented that Watson was "perfect"
for the starring role of aspiring actress Pauline Fossil: "She has a
piercing, delicate aura that makes you want to gaze and gaze at her."
Ballet Shoes was broadcast in the UK on Boxing Day 2007 to an audience
of 5.7 million viewers, despite mixed reviews. Watson also lent her
voice to the role of Princess Pea in the animated film The Tale of
Despereaux, a children's comedy starring Matthew Broderick with Harry
Potter co-star Robbie Coltrane (playing the character of Rubeus Hagrid)
also starring in the film. The Tale of Despereaux was released in
December 2008 and grossed $87 million worldwide.In December 2008, Watson
stated she wanted to go to university after she completed the Potter
series.

In May 2010, Watson was reported to be in talks to star in a film
adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Filming began in summer
2011. Also that month, she announced that she would appear in a music
video for One Night Only after meeting lead singer George Craig at the
2010 Winter/Summer Burberry advertising campaign. The video, "Say You
Don't Want It", was screened on Channel 4 on 26 June 2010 and released
on 16 August. In her first post-Harry Potter film, Watson appeared in
2011's My Week with Marilyn as Lucy, a wardrobe assistant who has a few
dates with the main character, Colin Clark. Watson has also expressed
interest in being in a musical film.

Modelling

In 2008, the British press
reported that Watson was to replace Keira Knightley as the face of the
fashion house Chanel, but this was denied by both parties.In June 2009,
following several months of rumours, Watson confirmed that she would be
partnering with Burberry as the face of their Autumn/Winter 2009
campaign, for which she received an estimated six-figure fee.She also
appeared in Burberry's 2010 Spring/Summer campaign alongside her brother
Alex, musicians George Craig and Matt Gilmour, and model Max Hurd. In
February 2011, Watson was awarded the Style Icon award from British Elle
by Dame Vivienne Westwood. Watson continued her involvement in fashion
advertising when she announced she had been chosen as the face of
Lancôme in March 2011.

Emma Watson, 2011

In September 2009, Watson announced her involvement with People Tree, a
Fair Trade fashion brand.Watson worked as a creative advisor for People
Tree to create a spring line of clothing, which was released in February
2010; the range featured styles inspired by southern France and
London.The collection, described by The Times as "very clever" despite
their "quiet hope that would become tangled at the first hemp-woven
hurdle", was widely publicised in magazines such as Teen Vogue,
Cosmopolitan, and People. Watson, who was not paid for the
collaboration,admitted that competition for the range was minimal, but
argued that "Fashion is a great way to empower people and give them
skills; rather than give cash to charity you can help people by buying
the clothes they make and supporting things they take pride in"; adding,
"I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the
humanitarian issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good
choices but there aren't many options out there." Watson continued her
involvement with People Tree, resulting in the release of a 2010
Autumn/Winter collection.

Personal life

After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, Watson attended The
Dragon School until June 2003 and then moved to Headington School, also
in Oxford. While on film sets, Watson and her peers were tutored for up
to five hours a day. In June 2006, Watson took GCSE examinations in 10
subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades.

After leaving school, Watson took a gap year to film Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows beginning in February 2009,but said she "definitely
want to go to university". The Providence Journal reported that Watson
had confirmed that she had chosen Brown University, located in
Providence, Rhode Island. In March 2011, after 18 months at the
university, Watson announced that she was deferring her course for "a
semester or two", to give her more time to participate in the
advertising buildup for the release of the second Deathly Hallows film,
and other projects. It has since been announced that Watson will be
continuing her studies in autumn, reportedly on an exchange programme to
Worcester College, Oxford, and that she will complete her final year at
Brown University.